Merry

• POS: Adjective, Noun
• HYPHEN: mer=ry

CIDE DICTIONARY

Merry, a. [OE. merie, mirie, murie, merry, pleasant, AS. merge, myrige, pleasant; cf. murge, adv.; prob. akin to OHG. murg, short, Goth. gamaúrgjan to shorten; cf. L. murcus a coward, who cuts off his thumb to escape military service; the Anglo-Saxon and English meanings coming from the idea of making the time seem short. Cf. Mirth.].

•  Laughingly gay; overflowing with good humor and good spirits; jovial; inclined to laughter or play; sportive.  [1913 Webster]

  "They drank, and were merry with him."  [1913 Webster]

  "I am never merry when I hear sweet music."  [1913 Webster]
•  Cheerful; joyous; not sad; happy.  [1913 Webster]

  "Is any merry? let him sing psalms."  [1913 Webster]
•  Causing laughter, mirth, gladness, or delight; as, a merry jest.  Spenser.  [1913 Webster]

  "His merie men commanded he
  To make him bothe game and glee."  [1913 Webster]

Syn. -- Cheerful; blithe; lively; sprightly; vivacious; gleeful; joyous; mirthful; jocund; sportive; hilarious.

Merry, n. 

 A kind of wild red cherry.  [1913 Webster]

OXFORD DICTIONARY

Merry, adj. (merrier, merriest)
1 a joyous. b full of laughter or gaiety.
2 Brit. colloq. slightly drunk.

Idiom

make merry
1 be festive; enjoy oneself.
2 (foll. by over) make fun of. merry andrew a mountebank's assistant; a clown or buffoon. merry thought esp. Brit. the wishbone of a bird. play merry hell with see HELL.

Derivative

merrily adv. merriness n.

Etymology

OE myrige f. Gmc

THESAURUS

Merry

addled, animated, beery, bemused, besotted, blind drunk, blithe, blithesome, boon, buoyant, buxom, carefree, carouse, celebrate, cheerful, cheery, convivial, crapulent, crapulous, delighted, dizzy, drenched, drunk, drunken, exhilarating, exuberant, far-gone, festal, festive, flustered, fou, frivolous, frolic, full, gala, gay, giddy, glad, gladsome, gleeful, glorious, happy, hilarious, in liquor, inebriate, inebriated, inebrious, intoxicated, jocular, jocund, jolly, jovial, joyful, joyous, jubilant, laughter-loving, light-hearted, lighthearted, lively, mad, make merry, maudlin, mellow, merrymaking, mirth-loving, mirthful, muddled, nappy, on the loose, reeling, rejoicing, revel, riant, risible, shikker, sodden, sotted, sprightly, tiddly, tipsy, unconstrained, under the influence, vivacious, wild

ROGET THESAURUS

Merry

Drunkenness

N drunkenness, intemperance, drinking, inebriety, inebriation, ebriety, ebriosity, insobriety, intoxication, temulency, bibacity, wine bibbing, comtation, potation, deep potations, bacchanals, bacchanalia, libations, bender, oinomania, dipsomania, delirium tremens, alcohol, alcoholism, mania a potu, drink, alcoholic drinks, blue ruin, grog, port wine, punch, punch bowl, cup, rosy wine, flowing bowl, drop, drop too much, dram, beer, aguardiente, apple brandy, applejack, brandy, brandy smash, chain lightning, champagne, cocktail, gin, ginsling, highball, peg, rum, rye, schnapps, sherry, sling, uisquebaugh, usquebaugh, whisky, xeres, drunkard, sot, toper, tippler, bibber, wine-bibber, lush, hard drinker, gin drinker, dram drinker, soaker, sponge, tun, love pot, toss pot, thirsty soul, reveler, carouser, Bacchanal, Bacchanalian, Bacchal, Bacchante, devotee to Bacchus, bum, guzzler, tavern haunter, drunk, tipsy, intoxicated, inebrious, inebriate, inebriated, in one's cups, in a state of intoxication, temulent, temulentive, bombed, smashed, fuddled, mellow, cut, boozy, fou, fresh, merry, elevated, flustered, disguised, groggy, beery, top-heavy, potvaliant, glorious, potulent, squiffy, overcome, overtaken, whittled, screwed, tight, primed, corned, raddled, sewed up, lushy, nappy, muddled, muzzy, obfuscated, maudlin, crapulous, dead drunk, woozy, buzzed, flush, flushed, inter pocula, in liquor, the worse for liquor, having had a drop too much, half seas over, three sheets in the wind, three sheets to the wind, under the table, drunk as a lord, drunk as a skunk, drunk as a piper, drunk as a fiddler, drunk as Chloe, drunk as an owl, drunk as David's sow, drunk as a wheelbarrow, drunken, bibacious, sottish, given to drink, addicted to drink, addicted to the bottle, toping, nunc est bibendum, Bacchus ever fair and young, drink down all unkindness, O that men should put an enemy in their mouths to.